Saturday, August 28, 2010

Before we get started I have a couple of hints...If you use wired ribbon, you could remove the ribbon as I did for this tutorial. Or you could remove the wire from just the bottom side of your bud. Use a heavy duty thread that is not silky because with ribbon, it slips. I use jewelry wire cutters and a 26 gauge craft wire. Remember, the wider your ribbon, the more you need. For tutorial purposes I used a 1 1/2 inch ribbon. So my measurements will be for that width. All you need to know how to do is a running and whip stitch and knot..Easy...Just relax and have fun... **********************************************************************

Step 1Cut the ribbon that you will be using for the bud part of your flower to 3 1/2 inches.

Step 2 Fold down the 2 edges of the ribbon to form a point (triangle shape). With your needle and thread sew a running stitch across the base catching the selvage in the back (both layers).

Step 3 Draw up your stitches tightly and knot.

Step 4 Cut a 5 1/2 inch length of your leave colored ribbon. Lay your bud about 2/3rds of the way on your ribbon as shown.You could do a tiny stay stitch to keep it in its place.

Step 5 Wrap the shorter piece of ribbon over the bud as shown. Notice I did a tiny stay stitch to keep the layer down.

Step 6 Now wrap (criss cross)the longer end over the shorter end as shown, The longer end will be your excess that will eventually become a part of your stem.I did another tiny stay stitch to keep it in it's place.You can leave the needle in this position.

Step 7 Sew another running stitch across the ribbon layers, making sure you catch the back as you sew. These layers will be a little bulky, thus the reason for the very strong thread.

Step 8 Draw up your stitches tightly to gather and then wrap the excess thread around the base a couple of times as shown. And knot off in the back. You should have a small tail of ribbon.

Step 9Cut a length of floral tape. It is OK if you run out of tape before wrapping till the end. Just cut another piece and overlap your previous wrap, you will never tell the difference. It sticks really well as long as you stretch the tape as you go.

Step 10Starting at the base of your floral bud, just covering the thread start wrapping the floral tape around tightly a couple of times to start. Remember with floral tape, you must stretch it as you go to get the tackiness and stretch needed to secure onto itself.

Step 11Twist the ribbon as you wrap it with the floral tape to reduce the bulk of the stem. You could then attach some craft wire to extend the length of the stem and keep wrapping the wire until the whole length is covered with the floral tape. At this point your bud stem can be bent to the desired shape. At this point you could add leaves to the stem. I will be doing a tutorial on ribbon leaves in the future. But silk leaves would look beautiful with this bud.

I also create viney pieces by wrapping the floral tape around the wire, then wrapping the covered wire around a thin paint brush to make the curls. Stretch them out a bit and place in your arrangement. Here are some examples used on my last LO.

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Just working on more LO's from Swirlydoos August kit "Shabby Ambition. Waiting on Septembers kit to start my Design Team work...Customs has held some product hostage...lol...Well I enjoyed creating the Flowers for this LO. I have done a tutorial for the ribbon buds for the next kit.The ribbon is a beautiful variegated ribbon I picked up at Michaels.It is wired, but as always, I remove the wire. I will be posting the tutorial this weekend. The only flower I didn't make is the big Prima in the corner. The photo is my daughter Gabrielle. The leaves are my favorite lately, as you can tell from my last few LO's. They are from Heartfelt Creations. I stamped them on white cardstock, then Glimmer Misted them in 2 different green colors. The roses were also Glimmer Misted in Coral color. The were made from the small Retro punch. There are 6 layers in each small rose. I did some sewing on the page and backed it with the Bazzill card stock that came in the card stock add on for the kit. The letters are Prima, what few I had left of them Thats why I created a tutorial on recreating the letters. I really love them!! Here is the LO and some of the closeups..And I just realized...NO BUTTERFLIES!!!! For shame. I will have to add some and repost the LO...lol

Sunday, August 22, 2010

This is one of the last LO's that I created for Swirlydoos August kit Shabby Ambition. I just loved this kit and all of the papers from IOD..Beloved line. I have also been having fun creating the leaves that are a beautiful Stamp from a company called Heartfelt Creations. I recently answered a call for their design Team and made it to the semifinals. Now I am waiting for a package of goodies from them to create the projects to submit for the finals.Just love the leaf stamp!! I glimmer misted them in 3 different green colors to give them depth and texture.I enhanced the steel grey flower with my burnt organza flower technique. I used my Tim Holtz Tattered Florals die for the layers. I sticled the butterflies with Rock candy Stickles and wove some ribbon through my scalloped cardstock. The large decorative flourishes are my Quickutz 12 inch die. I cut 2 and pplace dthem side by side. Then I just gave the whole background paper a dusting of Glimmer Mist in 2 colors. Did a little sewing around the entire LO and I was done. Well, it's 5:40 am...Gotta get to work while all the little chickadees are still asleep. Hope everyone stays healthy and away from the hospital today...Make it a peaceful Sunday for me Lord!! Amen...

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Sometimes, I start a LO, and then cant finish because I get stuck...Stuck on what??? I don't know just stuck...So I let this one marinate for a while..Well almost 2 months. But I just finished it because I was tired of just looking at it..I used my leaf stamps from Heartfelt Creations. I cut them out, they have a beautiful swirl, but I didnt feel like cutting around the swirls...Remember, this LO was long overdue as it was. The butterflies were a gift from my sweet friend and Swirly Sister Tina . The flowers are the Swirly Retro Camelot Flowers I did a tutorial on. And the Sugared Letters are also a tutorial I did. The photo is my daughter Gabrielle. I just did a Photoshop tutorial on how to get flawless skin. But I also did a little digital make up for the eyeshadow. Just a funky light green to match the background and the LO. She's got soulful eyes...Love them!!

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

I will be doing a series of Photoshop Tutorials so that you can kick your photo's up a notch for your scrapbooking LO's. These tutorials are for Photoshop CS.My swirly sister Lisa aka Raining, will be doing tutorials for Photoshop Elements. You need a basic understanding of Photoshop to follow the instructions. Otherwise I will try to teach in laymen's terms...This week I teach flawless skin and bringing out the soul in eyes. You will learn how to take a photo from this...

Sunday, August 15, 2010

Still creating LO's from Swirlydoos August kit "Shabby Ambition". The Beloved papers from IOD are just beautiful. I want to thank Lisa, (kaye222) for pointing me in the right direction on the leaf stamps...I love them!! Thank you so much!! They are from Heartfelt Creations. The photo is my GF's daughter Emma. She had been picking flowers and dandelions. I used 3 different colors of Glimmer Mist to color the leaves and give them depth. I made the larger flowers using my new McGill 2.5" Floriano Flower punch using white textured card stock, misted them lightly with water, wrinkled them a bit for more texture and curled in the ends.I punched the medium retro Punch for the middle and topped the flowers with pearl brads I found in the bridal section at Michaels. The butterflies can be found among the files I create and share at Swirlydoos. I printed this set on 5x7 antique colored card stock, and used Rock Candy Stickles for glimmer. I edited the photo in PhotoshopCS using the Kubota action Chocolate Syrup and added a faint white vignette.

Sunday, August 1, 2010

Our August collection; "Shabby Ambition" embraces the soft and elegant style that "is" Shabby Chic! So many of our ladies create such amazing pieces of art using this particular style and we are excited to see the beauty you will bring out of this kit! This beautiful collection boasts brand new products from some of the top manufacturers in the industry. You'll find brand new Iron Orchid Designs, Prima, Webster's Pages, Shimmerz and more yummy goodness in this kit! We've also assembled a fine collection of add on kits that compliment our main kit beautifully. We sincerely hope you will enjoy this lovely collection that we have prepared for you. Head on over to Swirlydoos to see all of the beautiful add on kits as well. And see what the design team has created!!

Working with Swirlydoos August "Shabby Ambition" has been wonderful..So many beautiful papers and elements. The photo is my mom on her wedding day, pinning the flowers on my grandmothers dress. February 14th 1960.I used the butterflies that I provided files for , for this kit. I just stickled them to bring out the colors. The chipboard was painted with Distress Crackle Paint then rubbed with some Distress ink to bring out the cracks in the paint. I took apart one of the Prima pearl swirls for the butterfly flight streams. I just adore this beautiful kit. More to come...